Groupon, Facebook rise; Applied drops

Daily-deals firm introduces new mobile-payments system

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Groupon Inc. jumped Wednesday after the company unveiled a new mobile-payments service, but the tech sector overall was weighed down by sliding shares of Applied Materials Inc. and other chip-equipment makers.

Groupon
GRPN, +0.21%
stock rose 14% to close at $5.34 after the daily-deals firm introduced Groupon Payments, which it said will help businesses such as restaurants, salons and spas take credit-card payments. The stock remains down more than 70% since the start of the year.

But the tech sector was beset by a selloff in the semiconductor category, as shares of capital-equipment companies retreated on a Korean news report that Samsung, a major customer, was planning to scale back its capital-equipment spending by half in 2013.

“We are highly skeptical of this report — we do not think even Samsung has set in stone its 2013 total capex at this time,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a morning note.

But Barclays analyst C.J. Muse countered by writing that “our work suggests the direction is correct, but that capex will be closer to down about 33%.”

Mossberg reviews the iPhone 5

(4:51)

Although Apple's new iPhone is lacking some key features in its Maps app and the new charging cable may be annoying, Walt Mossberg says it’s still the best smartphone out there.

Shares of Applied Materials
AMAT, -1.20%
shed 1.8% to close at $11.50. KLA-Tencor
KLAC, +1.90%
was down 4.8%, closing at $48.43, while Lam Research Corp.
LRCX, -2.16%
also sank by 2.5% to close at $32.85. The two latter stocks emerged as two of the worst performers on the S&P 500 Index
SPX, -0.23%

Meanwhile, Barclays also argued that the reported capital-spending cut signaled that “eventual supply/demand improvements” for memory-chip makers Micron Technology Inc.
MU, -6.98%
and SanDisk Corp.
SNDK, -0.43%
Micron gained 2.6% to close at $6.65, while SanDisk added 2.2% to close at $46.18.

Yahoo Inc.
YHOO, -2.00%
shares edged down a fraction to close at $15.86 after posting gains earlier, as several analysts praised the company’s plan to return about $3.65 billion to shareholders following the liquidation of part of its ownership stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

“While the initial market reaction was muted, we think that the deal being finalized lowers the risk profile,” wrote Ben Schachter of Macquarie Capital in a note.

He maintained a neutral rating on the shares, though, adding that “beyond the deal, we are still waiting for the new CEO and her team to lay out a strategy to revitalize the company. Without a strategic plan in place, it is hard for us to have a strong view one way or the other on the stock.”

The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, -0.01%
edged higher by 5 points, or 0.2%, to close at 3,183. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index
MSH, -0.20%
was also ahead fractionally, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
SOX, -1.20%
was down a fraction.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.